Ginola’s as cheesy as a slab of brie ...but Woods is the toast of Paris!
THERE were the predictable boos and jeers for Patrick Reed, the combustible American happily adopting the role of pantomime villain and cupping his ear in response. Just as there was a welcome as warm as the late September sun for Ian Poulter.
But nothing here at Le Golf National compared to what will be remembered as Tiger’s roar when the Ryder Cup teams were introduced by their captains at this opening ceremony.
If Europe were concerned that the resurgence of Woods might seduce the home crowd here in Paris, those fears were realised in a deafening chorus of cheers and chants from supporters from both sides of the Atlantic.
Jim Furyk had already done his best to win over the locals with his stirring references to Lafayette and Washington, the Statue of Liberty and the combined ‘struggle for freedom in the 20th century’. A fine striker of a golf ball, the 48-year-old American struck the right notes, too. The hosts, he said, were their ‘friends and allies’ and that was why they would have The Statue of Liberty emblazoned on their golf bags for the first Ryder Cup on French soil.
But only when Furyk read out the last name on his roster and Woods slowly rose from his seat did the place erupt. Only then was Furyk forced to pause, for what must have felt to Europe’s players like a painfully long time, before finishing his speech.
It was a hard act to follow but Thomas Bjorn performed admirably, slipping in a message on Brexit when his players have been ducking such questions all week. ‘Europe can be a fragmented place but when it comes to the Ryder Cup it stands as one,’ declared the Dane.
But not a single European player, not even Rory McIlroy, received a reception that came anywhere close to what the 15,000strong crowd reserved for Woods.
As Ryder Cup opening ceremonies go, this was pretty slick. Addresses from blazers were cut into videos, the speeches were short and there was a quick video-reminder of famous Parisian landmarks for Bubba Watson.
David Ginola, for all the confusion he might have caused among some spectators as a footballerturned-talent show host now bossing the stage here, did a fine job of knitting it all together. He was as cheesy as a slab of brie but he was certainly more suited to Selfie stars: Brooks Koepka’s partner Jena Sims (left) with Dustin Johnson’s fiancee Paulina Gretzky this than the FIFA presidency he once had designs on.
Crucially there were no gaffes. No echoes of Hal Sutton forgetting how many kids he had. No cringeworthy moment to compare to Nick Faldo’s badly misjudged joke about Pádraig Harrington and potatoes in Ireland or his reference to Soren Hansen as ‘Soren Stenson’.
Furyk did prompt a few chuckles from the crowd when he stated that were it not for his parents he would not be standing there as the captain of the American Ryder Cup team, while a reference to sportsmanship prompted an amusing heckle in the direction of Phil Mickelson.
Of course, there were also tributes to the glamourous wives and girlfriends, not to mention the caddies. And if anyone cares who won in the fashion stakes, the American WAGS probably edged it for the girls while the preppy-looking American players finished a distant second to the sharp-suited Europeans.
That, however, had no impact on the widespread adoration for Woods. Sitting front row, far left, he was an electrifying presence on the stage, a man who has lit up this Ryder Cup before a ball has even been hit.